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Sony sued over Killzone: Shadow Fall's 1080p promises

A California class-action lawsuit alleges Sony Computer Entertainment America engaged in "deceptive marketing" of Killzone: Shadow Fall for PS4 when it advertised the game running in 1080p. After launch, Digital Foundry found that the multiplayer portion of Shadow Fall runs in upscaled 960 x 1080 resolution, a step below 1080p – and law firm Edelson PC and plaintiff Douglas Ladore see a case there.

The suit, on behalf of Ladore and "all others similarly situated," seeks damages of more than $5 million. It also calls for Sony to more accurately advertise Shadow Fall's multiplayer resolution.

"Sony admitted that it did not in fact design Killzone to display multiplayer graphics in 1080p, but instead used a technological shortcut that was supposed to provide 'subjectively similar' results," the suit argues. "But Sony never advertised and convinced consumers to buy a technological shortcut."

Gallery: Killzone: Shadow Fall (Multiplayer) | 31 Photos

After the game launched and Digital Foundry's report, Sony producer Poria Torkan addressed Shadow Fall's multiplayer graphics: "In multiplayer mode, however, we use a technique called 'temporal reprojection,' which combines pixels and motion vectors from multiple lower-resolution frames to reconstruct a full 1080p image. If native means that every part of the pipeline is 1080p then this technique is not native."

The suit describes how intently Ladore researched Shadow Fall's 1080p promises before purchasing it, and takes us through his unboxing and first playthrough. "After opening Killzone's packaging (thus rendering the game un-returnable) and playing the game, Plaintiff realized that the game's multiplayer graphics were not the '1080p' graphics that Sony advertised," the case reads. "Instead, Plaintiff noticed that Killzone's multiplayer graphics were blurry and did not appear to be rendering at a native 1080p resolution."

The suit was filed with the Northern California US District Court on August 5, and it demands a trial by jury.

Edelson is the same law firm behind suits against Zynga (Farmville information leaks), Sega and Gearbox (Aliens: Colonial Marines' poor quality), and EA (not providing Battlefield 1943 with new copies of Battlefield 3).